https://www.blog.montgomerie.net/tags/eprom/ Recent content in Eprom on Jamie Montgomerie’s World Wide Web Log Hugo en-gb © Jamie Montgomerie Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.blog.montgomerie.net/posts/2026-01-13-rescuing-the-makerspaces-vintage-microcontrollers/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.blog.montgomerie.net/posts/2026-01-13-rescuing-the-makerspaces-vintage-microcontrollers/ <p>I recently joined my <a href="https://ashevillemakers.org/">local makerspace</a>, and one of the exciting<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> things there is this shelf of electronic components, available for all members to use:</p> <p> <img src="https://www.blog.montgomerie.net/posts/2026-01-13-rescuing-the-makerspaces-vintage-microcontrollers/shelf_of_components.jpeg" width="4032" height="2395" alt="A shelf with three sets of Akro-Mills style component drawers. The drawers look old." /> </p> <p>I felt a bit like an archeologist going through these. Everything in them, apart from some Arduinos and Raspberry Pi related stuff in the middle shelves, seems to be at least thirty years old! There&rsquo;s the usual selection of resistors, capacitors, transistors, and other small through-hole components. Among the more complex things, a lot seems to be loosely audio-related - amps, signal generators and the like (I bet someone could make some cool synths!). There are a load of old-school UV-light-erasable EPROMs.</p> <p>What interested me most, though, was a huge stash of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_carrier#Plastic-leaded_chip_carrier">PLCC</a> ICs. Just look at this!</p> <p> <img src="https://www.blog.montgomerie.net/posts/2026-01-13-rescuing-the-makerspaces-vintage-microcontrollers/MCUs@2x.jpeg" width="384" height="512" alt="A drawer from one of the cabinets. It has two compartments, each filled with loads of 44-pin PLCC ICs" /> </p>